Today I decided to watch a movie. I didn't have to go into work until 3:30, so I had pretty much the entire morning. I'm usually always in the mood for the chick flick, but opted for some intense action instead. I settled for Taken, starring Liam Neeson and Maggie Grace. I had heard really good things about the movie and was anticipating a great action flick. Taken does not disappoint. Not only is the movie an edge-of-your-seat nail biter, but it is also a wake up call to viewers. The film addresses the topic of human sex-trafficing. 17-year-old Kim is excited about her trip to Europe with best friend Amanda, however, hours upon their arrival in Paris the girls are kidnapped and thrown into world of sex-slavery. This movie is a warning for young women everywhere. Human slave-trading is not only occurring on the other side of the globe; It's here. Women in the U.S. are at just as great a risk. I did some googling and found a site (polarisproject.org) chocked full of information. Here are some interesting facts that I found pertaining to the sex-trade:
Victims are trafficked for a wide variety of purposes. Some of the most common areas in which trafficking victims have been identified in the U.S. include:Commercial sex industry
- Domestic street prostitution, strip clubs, and escort agencies
- Asian massage parlors, residential brothel, and room salon networks
- Latino residential brothel, cantina bar, and escort agency networks
- Russian and Eastern European strip clubs and escort agencies
- Online websites, like Craigs List and escort agency website
Both foreign national and U.S. citizen victims have been identified in cities, suburbs, and rural areas in all 50 states and in Washington, DC. They are forced to work or provide commercial sex against their will in legal and legitimate business settings as well as underground markets. Some victims are hidden behind locked doors in brothels and factories. In other cases, victims are in plain view, but the widespread lack of awareness of trafficking leads to low levels of victim identification by the people who come into contact with them. For example, women and girls in sex trafficking situations, especially U.S. citizens, are often misidentified as being voluntarily in the sex industry.
- 13 is the average age of first being prostituted and trafficked in the commercial sex industry in the UNITED STATES
- 50 Percent of transnational victims are children (U.S. Department of Justice)
- 244,000 – 325,000: Number of American children and youth who are at risk for sexual exploitation and sex trafficking every year (University of Pennsylvania)
Taken deserves credit for decrying the horrors of sex trafficking, a subject that has received increasing press coverage recently. According to imdb.com, actress Famke Janssen (who plays Bryan's ex-wife) was inspired by her participation in the film to get involved with this heartrending problem, to the point of becoming a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Office Against Drugs and Crime. It's conceivable that some who see this film will be similarly moved. (pluggedin.com)
I was very moved. Here's a story I encountered from ABC News:
Miya was working three jobs -- 14 hours a day -- to pay off her bills and save for college.One day when she was working, she was approached by a young woman and a well-dressed man. "He asked if it would be out of place if he said I was pretty," Miya said. "I was like, 'No.' I mean, it was a compliment."The man was charming and had a flattering offer for Miya."He said that he was a model agent, [that] he was looking for new models in the area," she said. "It's not like something I've been wanting to do or anything, but, I mean, it was ... it seemed interesting."Taken by the idea of modeling and making extra money, Miya agreed to meet the couple that night at a local restaurant."They said they were on their way to California to go back to their office and they were going to do some more photo shoots, and they wanted me to go along with them," Miya said. "He said that I could probably make about a thousand or more. ... He said I could try it for three days. ... And so I went with them."The next morning Miya was thrilled when the couple took her to have her hair, makeup and nails done. At that point, she said she had no idea she was not being made over for a photo shoot but for a much more insidious reason. Later, when the couple began taking pictures, Miya said she became alarmed."They used just a cheap camera you can buy, the throwaway," she said. "And they said once we get to California that we would be at a photo shoot, and that they'd be using, uh, some really good equipment, they'd have makeup artists and stuff like that."Miya said she didn't know what happened to those pictures until later, when she arrived in California with the couple. "He showed me a Web site that he put them up on," she said. "And it was an escort service site."
You can read more stories here. People, especially Americans, need to be more informed. So spread the word.
